Climate activists stage coal protests in Europe

STOCKHOLM (AP) ---- Climate activists from Greenpeace dumped 18
tons of coal in front of the Swedish government's headquarters
Wednesday in a protest designed to pressure European countries to
close coal-fired power plants.

The action was part of a wider campaign by Greenpeace and other
environmental activists calling for a global deal to cut greenhouse
gas emissions at a U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December.

Elsewhere in Europe, Polish protesters blocked cargo trains at a
coal transit point Wednesday, while nine Britons spent two nights
this week camped on the chimney of a coal-firing power station. The
activists hope the attention-grabbing stunts will also influence
European Union leaders meeting this week to discuss a common
position for the Copenhagen talks.

Coal-burning plants -- a major source of carbon dioxide
emissions -- account for about one-third of the European Union's
electricity production. Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic are
among the biggest producers and users of coal in the 27-nation
bloc.

Greenpeace activists said Sweden -- which now holds the EU
presidency -- must set a better example. Even though the country
relies mostly on nuclear and hydro power for its own energy needs,
its state-owned utility Vattenfall runs several coal plants in
Germany and Poland.

The activists said they trucked 18 tons of brown coal from
Germany and dumped it outside the government office in Stockholm in
a protest aimed at Vattenfall and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik
Reinfeldt.

"There are only a few weeks left before the climate summit in
Copenhagen," Greenpeace spokesman Anders Hellberg said. Reinfeldt
must "show the climate leadership that he talks about. That's hard
when he allows the state-owned energy company to continue to invest
in coal power."

Swedish police let the protesters picket outside the government
office, while cleanup crews removed the coal. There were no
arrests, but police took information from some activists, who could
face charges, Hellberg said.

Vattenfall spokesman Mark Vadaszs said the company was a
European leader in developing alternative energy sources, such as
wind, hydro and solar power, and has devoted billions on carbon
capture technology.

The EU sees carbon capture technology as a crucial step to
reducing emissions from coal-fired power stations.

"It's not possible to switch off the coal plants because then
the world would stop," Vadaszs said.

Greenpeace activists also staged a protest in Poland, blocking
cargo trains at a coal transit station in Malaszewice. They
appealed to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other European
leaders to agree to a 40 percent reduction of carbon emissions at
the EU summit starting Thursday in Brussels.

So far, pledges by the world's industrial countries fall short
of the minimum U.N. goal of a 25 percent cut by 2020.

In Britain, four women and five men were detained Wednesday on
suspicion of aggravated trespass after spending two nights on the
chimney of the Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire. Eleven others
who protested at the plant's coal conveyor were arrested
Monday.

Amy Johnson, a 20-year-old student from Oxford, said the protest
was called because the plant's owner, RWE npower PLC, plans to
build more coal-fired power stations in Europe.

RWE spokeswoman Claire Loveday said that while the company was
building three such plants, in Germany and the Netherlands, it was
also investing billions in cleaner technologies and helping
customers reduce demand.

RWE is also considering building three more plants, including
two in the U.K., she said.